To Save a Bella
by perFANfection
Summary: At eighteen years old, Beca had never expected for her life to be turned by an unexpected pregnancy. But when she meets the bubbly, red-headed Chloe Beale, who offers to take the runaway rebel in until the baby's birth and adoption, she finds herself striving to make ends meet among other things, along with juggling to look for potential adoptive parents and find herself a home.
1. Chapter 1

Beca Mitchell at the ripe age of eighteen, had never expected to stare down at a positive pregnancy test, two solid lines mocking her from the granite counter top of her dorm's bathroom sink. She felt her throat tighten as another head rush surged over her, and she grabbed for the counter, sitting on top of the closed toilet. She couldn't tell if morning sickness had started early, or if she was truly going to get sick. So instead of chancing it, she lunged from the seat and pulled open the lid, hurling over the porcelain bowl as she held tightly to the sides, watching as the vomit dripped from the corners of her mouth and stained her hair.

"Uhn-" She groaned, unable to stomach what she had just received.

It had been a short and meaningless relationship, a drunken, brief marriage officiated on their trip to a secluded and sketchy chapel on one of the main drives of Las Vegas. She and Jesse had thought they were in love, ready to take on the world at the young and immature age of eighteen, expecting to know how they could make it on their own. But after a month and a half they realized that they had different wants and needs in life, and he had left her the morning before their first day of college.

"This can't be right." She murmurs to herself before tossing it into the trash beside her.

She glanced at her clock as it read _8:09,_ just nine minutes late for her first class, figuring that it was only the fourth day of school, and that there was no need, it wasn't like she was gonna stay long anyway, the need for her to finish college lessened by the fact that it consumed most of her time and offered no financial support that getting a job could. So Beca slumped her backpack over her shoulder as she flung the bathroom door open, finding an irritable and sleepy-eyed Kimmy Jin waiting impatiently outside.

"Sorry." She mutter insincerely as she shuffles out the door and onto the quad.

Beca stared in amusement as she passed the various clubs obnoxiously stepping in other's ways to try and recruit them to their clubs, hounding them with flyers and pointless facts that would hopefully persuade them otherwise. But what caught her eyes, a lime green poster board with big, bold black letters casting the words " _Barden DJs_ " across it.

" _Doesn't anyone ever go to class around here?"_ Beca wonders as she makes her way Cafe for her favorite: a small hot chocolate with whipped cream. She lowered her eyes as the bell above the door rang, and her head sunk as she avoided any glares.

"The usual, Tommy Boy." Beca prompts the muscular barista as she sits at a round high top near the window.

Tommy was tall and thick, not a chunky or rounded boy but rather just solid, his heavy and rigid arms desizing the rest of his body, making it appear rather unproportionate. He had olive skin and dark hair, his hazel eyes beautifully matching the rest of his tone. Beca hated to admit the shameful crush she had on him, even after being left just days before college started.

"Beca, right?" He smiled as he handed her the drink, his slightly crooked smile appeasing to Beca and she only responds with a sheepish nod, not looking for anything more than a small and casual exchange with the handsome college senior.

Beca lifted the cup to her nose, gently blowing into the small cut-out hole inside the plastic lid, before wafting the warm and sweet smell into her nostrils. Beca set it down after a few seconds of blowing, opening her laptop to search for places to go. She knew it wouldn't be long before she had to drop out, but she knew for certain that her dad wouldn't let her bum around his place, despite them recently working on their differences.

Beca felt a wave of nausea run over her as the words on her web search blur, struggling to refocus as she held her free hand over her mouth, feeling ready to hurl. She barely made it to the trash near the exit before leaning over to dry-heave over the clean tile floor, and soon she felt a soft hand over her back, and another gathering her hair behind her. As she regained her strength, and the wave passed, she turned, expecting to find Tommy's beefy hand helping her up, but was startled at the very least to find it wasn't.

Her red, shoulder length, large curls hung over her shoulders voluminously as her blue eyes, the most piercing and fierce eyes she had ever seen, deep blue staring intensely at her, her eyebrows raised and the corners of her mouth touching the heavens above, a warm and friendly face despite the fact that the blue eyes were jabbing brightly at her.

"The coffee here isn't really that great." The girl smirks as she helps Beca back to her seat and offers her a napkin and water bottle.

"Yeah, thanks." Beca plainly responds, taking a sip from the water before pushing it aside.

"I'm Chloe," She exclaims before Beca distances her chair from the gingers.

Beca knew that any friendship couldn't possibly be a lasting one, her plans to drop out of college already in play, as she looked over to her browser, noticing the tabs of housing still open, and quickly pulled the cover closed before any questions would be asked by the nosy ginger.

"Look, it was nice to meet you, but trust me, I'm not worth your time." Beca assures her politely, before turning her computer back to face only her.

Beca could see the hurt on the ginger's soft face, her eyes drooping such as a puppy's when it's left in a kennel for an extended amount of time. She nods her head, forcing a small smile as she snatches Beca's napkin from the table and tosses it into the trash on her way out.

"Wait," Beca called, ridden with guilt, and the ginger turns slightly around.

"I'm Beca; Beca Mitchell." She forces a half smile, trying to make up for her unintentionally rude behavior.

Chloe smiles before quickly turning, scurrying out of the place with slightly less shame of her "No boundaries" like approach. She smiled to herself, realizing that there was something slightly different about this girl's rebellious like persona that made her unique in Chloe's eyes, someone she could see herself seeing more of.


	2. Chapter 2

Beca glanced around her half empty dorm room, the one she had only shared for a maximum of five days before she had all her things packed, other than her remixing equipment, and was preparing to bring her things back to her dad's. She had yet to tell her dad of her pregnancy, but nonetheless knew that despite their differences, she had safe refuge from the storm that had become her life in her dad's home. That was, if she could keep her pregnancy a secret just long enough to find another place.

As she finally approached her dad's home, she jingled her keys to her father's home in her hand, shakily putting them in the lock as she struggled to balance a few large boxes in one arm. Thrusting the door open with her hip she slid herself in through the slightly opened door and made her way to the upstairs bedroom in which she barely recognized, as she secretly slid the boxes out of sight into her walk-in closet, closing the door behind her.

As Beca then sunk against her upstairs bathroom door, she felt tears stream down her face, her face burning with shame, guilt, fear, anger, all the emotions clustered in one jumbled thought as she leaned against it, bringing her knees up to her face.

She soon wakes as her dad's work loafers clicked against the linoleum, his keys jingling against his belt as she hears him scoot out his desk chair in the other room, rolling the plastic wheels noisily over the rubber gliding sheet on his carpeted floor. Beca breathed deeply, exhaling shakily as she realized her dad didn't acknowledge the fact that she had been home with almost all of her things now for over four hours.

She quietly unlocks the bathroom door, sliding her second pregnancy test she had taken into her jean pocket as she scampers around the carpeted flooring and clicks shut her bedroom door, practically skating across her carpet to her desk, gently resting it on the oakwood and watching in fear as it yet again mocked her, the two positive lines that could single handedly change her life.

"Beca?" Her dad suddenly calls, startling an anxious Beca from her thoughts.

Beca slides the test into her desk drawer before slamming it shut, and she jumps onto her bed, rolling over to face the wall as she grabs her laptop, briskly flying the top open as she pretends to be typing, all while "listening" to music through her unplugged headphones.

"Beca, it's barely one o'clock. What are you doing here?" Her father questions as she pretends to turn off her music, sliding her headphones off of her head, placing the around the back of her neck.

"Dad, we don't always see eye to eye, that we both know. I've decided that maybe coming for dinner every now and then might be good for us." She lies, feeling a deceiving smile form on her face as she watches her father question her true motives.

"And I suppose you wouldn't mind if Sheila came either then?" He tests her, and Beca only shakes her head.

"The more the merrier." She exclaims, her smile only a facade hiding her actually feelings.

Her father nods his head with suspicion as her turns to head down the stairs, and she hears him on his work phone, practically forgetting in an instance about their unusual conversation just seconds before. Beca knew it was only a matter of time before her father found out, and prolonging the confession would only worsen her relationship with her father and the amount of time it would take for it to sink in.

She knew then that she had to leave home, no professional college professor in his right mind wanting to allow his rebel, four day college dropout, pregnant daughter in his fancy two-hundred thousand dollar home dual level home, riding off his coattails on a free tuition. And as for Sheila, well Beca flat out didn't want to breath the same air in that home as Sheila, and sure as heck didn't want to hear any two-sense on her baby or pregnancy from her.

Beca sat down in the old brown wooden chairs, waiting as Sheila passed the potatoes around, scooping a heaping portion on her plate before sliding the bowl to Beca. Beca felt bile rise in her throat, gasping as she sealed her mouth shut, gagging deep in her throat all while trying not to further raise her dad and step-mother suspicions. When they glanced over to see what was wrong, Beca pretended to be resting her chin in her hand, smiling weakly at the both of them.

"Beca, do you care to share why you were skipping school, let alone coming back here?" Her father interrogated her, as he looked over the end of his drinking cup.

"I don't see a problem with missing a class now and then considering I'm getting in for free." Beca mumbles as she raises her plastic solo cup to her mouth, muffling her words in the hollow plastic.

"Beca, don't you want to succeed? You can do so much more with a diploma!" He encourages her, and Beca rolls her eyes at the cliche.

"A diploma can't teach you how to be a bangin' DJ; That takes real talent." She remarks sarcastically, smiling at her speechless dad as he looked at her in irritation with wrinkled and tiresome eyes, not in the exact mood to be arguing with his rebellious teenage daughter.

"You're staying in college and that's that." He snaps firmly, losing patience.

"What if I say...drop out, and go right into the work field or... _something_?" She hesitates to ask, feeling her throat swell tight, and she began to feel 'Cotton' mouthed.

"Then it looks like you're gonna have to find your own place to stay. We had a deal for you to stay in college for a year, and then you could go out to L.A and find yourself being a DJ at some rave." He reminds her, dropping the subject as Beca rolled her eyes, scowling at her dad's empty promise.

Beca wanted to argue; She had wanted to stand up and shout at her dad " _I'm pregnant, what options do I really have?!"_ before falling into his arms, longing for the way her hugged her as he did when she was just a small girl. But instead, she bit the inside of her cheek and whisked her plate off the table, trudging up the stairs as she pursed together her lips in a weak attempt to keep from crying. She slammed her door and flailed herself on her bed such as an angry child would just after receiving punishment, crying until her body felt weak, limp, and useless, falling into an exhausted state, not quite enough to fall into a deep sleep.

 **-XXX-**

As she sat out on the grassy square in the middle of the quad, hibernating beneath a shady oak tree, feeling as the leaves rustled above her head, the few orange and red leaves drifting in the breeze, landing just around her feet. She leaned against the wooden base, her knees drawn close to her chest as she rested her laptop on her thighs, listening to her mixes through the headphones snugly clinging to her head, hot chocolate in her hand.

She felt herself loosen up, her eyes drifting heavily near sleep, until the thud of a backpack dropped near her feet and she jumped, removing her headphones and looking up to find a familiar face smiling brightly down at her, almost too happy for comfort from a girl she barely knew. Her red hair shined in the light seeping through the branches, glistening in the mid-afternoon light.

"Hey! So this is your spot, heh?" She looks around, nodding in approval as she sips from her latte.

"Um yeah, i'm kind of into making my mixes out here. You know, to keep away from annoying roommates and such people." She hints, glaring at Chloe from above her laptop screen.

"I know those types," Chloe adds, obviously not catching the sly and gentle hint, and scooting next to Beca against the tree.

Beca unplugs her headphones, and Chloe catches a slight glimpse of the mix playing in the background. She lights up like a Christmas tree, excitedly reaching over to turn it up and Beca retreats her hand quickly, avoiding awkward contact.

" _Fire away, Fire away..._ " Chloe suddenly belts, singing along mindlessly.

"You know Tape Guetta?" Beca asks in astonishment, slightly lifting her annoyance toward the overly touchy and bubbly ginger.

She hated to admit it, but she never really detested the ginger, as she grew on her more and more, making Beca realize that she could loosen up a bit too. _She deserves a chance, she's pretty cool after all._ Beca thought.

"Ugh, are you kidding? That's my shower jam..." She insists.

"That's...nice, but I should go." Beca mutters, suddenly uncomfortable again, fearing that the ginger would realize that she wasn't worth her time.

"No, wait! I've brought you something." She insists, turning to reach into her backpack.

Chloe pulls out a sheet of a _Barden Bella_ 's Audition flyer, ten digits written quickly out in purple pen on the back, stringing in large numbers across the page, _A phone number,_ Beca presumes. At the bottom, she signed her name in bubbly cursive, her handwriting as perky as her personality, along with, at the bottom of the page, the message: _Text or call me anytime!_ And Beca could feel that it was written with all sincerity.

"Um, thank-you?" Beca adds, folding it and jamming it into the pocket of her sweatshirt.

"We obviously have only seen each other a few times, but you seem cool and we obviously have the same taste in music. And...you look a little lonely." She frowns at the last part, feeling her heart drop deep in her chest, touching almost near her stomach.

"I'm just distant, that's all. My boyfriend, husband, whatever you call him, kind of just left me a week ago." She confides.

"Well, I can assure you that I think we're gonna be really fast friends." She reassures her, squeezing the brunette in a quick pinch hug, then releasing her before standing up.

Beca felt had pushed away someone who tried to help and quite honestly, she needed someone to be around throughout her pregnancy, seeing that once her father knew, she wouldn't have many options. So on impulse Beca's hand flew out, reaching for the girl's sleeve and gently yanking her to the ground.

"Um...Why don't you stay?" Beca smiles, trying to feel more comfortable than she really was.

She saw the fierce blue eyes light up, as she happily plopped down next to Beca without hesitation. She scooted her body close, and Beca could smell a faint, vanilla scent on the girl's clothing, something that reminded her of her mother's, every clothes item hanging in that old closet of hers, smelling of the same, calming scent.

It was then, when Beca had thought she was completely relaxed that again she felt herself retching, leaning over into the grass to her left to avoid throwing up anywhere near the ginger girl, ruining her bright, fitting dress, blue but not as bright and piercing as her eyes. Without thinking, Chloe reached over, grabbing for the smaller girl's hair and pulling it back as she rubbed a soothing hand on her back.

This girl had mother like instincts, rubbing the same pattern circles on her back as her mother had when she was just a toddler, sick and curled up in a ball, lying under a warm fleece blanket on the couch as she hurled over the side every now and then to vomit in the large blue mixing bowl her mother had placed there as a makeshift garbage.

"Wow, you're really sick, aren't you?" Chloe implies, as Beca sits back up, groaning as she wiped her mouth across her sleeve.

"Morning sickness will do that to you." She grumbles sarcastically, careful to speak in a hushed tone as not to worry the ginger if she were to overhear.

After a long silence, Beca focusing on regaining her strength and sipping her water in small splashes, enough to wet just her lips and tongue, Chloe leans over, exhaling as she nervously wrung her hands together.

"I know this is completely far-fetched, or maybe not because you had a husband/boyfriend thingy, but do you think you could be... pregnant?" Chloe implies, careful to say it gently enough as not to throw Beca through a loop.

"Woah…" Beca plainly mutters in disbelief before darting her eyes away from the ginger's.

Beca picks at her black nail polish, chipping from her fingers in small patches left on her brittle nails. She scrapes then flicks, repeating the same motion until Chloe stops staring at her, sighing as she begins to assume the correct answer; It's true, yes. Chloe then picks up her bag, flinging it over her shoulder before glaring down at Beca, watching as the brunette avoids eye contact.

"Promise me this; If you need anything at all, you'll come find me." Chloe consults her before turning to leave, feeling Beca's eyes watch her as she leaves, until the faint click of her heels could be heard no more.


	3. Unplanned Blessings

Beca sat on Chloe's offer, thinking about not only the feeling of having a friend that was actually a girl, but someone to confide in now that life wasn't exactly going how she had hoped. Her father hadn't found out of the pregnancy and Beca had hoped to prolong her confession, but Chloe on the other hand knew all about it, her and Beca following up their conversation the following day, Beca spilling her guts to a girl she barely knew for a week and a half, and secretly sneaking home at night and leaving early to avoid making her father suspicious, but for most of the time she was left alone, sleeping in the grand hall theater or falling asleep in the shelves upon shelves of library books that no one would ever brush by, leaving them sinking sadly on their shelves.

She sat upon the same solid oak tree, looking up through the leaves as she glanced to the sky, fixing her eyes on the thick, gray clouds rolling through the sky. She sighed, suspecting a storm to roll in soon, and began lifting her laptop, trudging through the soft, freshly cut, dark and newly planted grass to get to the main walk. She didn't know where to go but was secretly hoping for the show of Chloe. She hadn't been in class for over five days, and she hadn't planned on it until or unless her dad consulted her about it, but never checked up on her until the semester just as he did when she was in high school.

" _You're failing!"_ He had shouted, throwing her high school report card down, watching as it slid across the table, Beca staring wide-eyed but emotionless at it.

" _All you can do for yourself is shrug? Can't you at least pretend you care?!"_ Her father became infuriated as she walked out of the room, distancing herself from her enraged father, crinkling the paper in his shaking, beet red, fist.

Beca would hate to go through the same thing. If her grades got her screamed at for a solid fifteen minutes and grounded for a month, what would being pregnant do? _Nothing,_ She thought. _I'm an adult now, he can't tell me what to do, only what he thinks._ She reminds herself.

She traces her finger over the black tattoo of headphones she had snuck out to get the day she turned eighteen to her dad's dismay, and was reminded of the disgusted look on her dad's face as he noticed it on Beca's uncovered wrist, grimacing at the split-second decision, though Beca had know she wanted one for awhile, pondering on the perfect explanation in ink of who she was, intentionally showing it off.

But it wasn't true; He would find out one way or another and next thing she knew, her luggage would be on the front lawn, her dad pushing her through the door as it slammed behind her, and hearing a quick _click_ from the locks inside. _Okay, cool it with the dramatics,_ Beca thought again, feeling her face flush at the very thought of being on her own.

Beca knew she couldn't keep bouncing between her dad's and the library, and soon he would be suspicious as to why she wasn't in her dorm if he came by to visit, potentially being greeted by a bitter and annoyed Kimmy Jin who would shake her head when he asked where his daughter was, all before mutter something about ' _White men'_ and slamming the door in his face. So out of sheer panic and desperation to not have to go down that path, Beca unfolds the flyer with the neatly written number, and calls Chloe, impatiently waiting for the dial tones to come through.

No explanation was further addressed, as Chloe welcomed Beca into her sorority home, where she walked her through the living room to introduce her to her only roommate, Aubrey Posen. She glanced Beca up and down, a disapproving "I can't believe you brought this semi-homeless girl into our home" look upon her scowling face, but in a friendly attempt she stands, reaching out her hand, sending mix messages as she pulled Beca in for a firm hug by her wrist, rather than just shaking her hand.

"Um, where did you get this flyer?" Beca asks in a desperate attempt to drown the awkward moment.

"We're in between seasons right now, but hopefully will be holding auditions soon. We're the _Barden Bella's._ We sing nationally together with nothing but our mouths." Chloe proudly informs her.

"Wow, okay… that's lame." Beca mutters to herself.

"Would you consider joining?" Chloe asked, her hopefully wide eyes plead before Aubrey stepped in.

"We could really use someone new, a fresh face, especially since I'm graduating this year." Aubrey adds, warming up to her slightly despite her rebellious outward facade in which Aubrey cautiously stared, not to come off too pushy in secret hopes that she would reject the offer.

Beca shifted uncomfortably on her feet before sitting down and sighing, wringing her hands together until they dropped the subject and joined Beca on the couch. Beca felt her insides shaking, though it would be against Beca's judgement to cry in front of two girls whom she barely knew.

"What's wrong?" Chloe suddenly prys, scooting next to Beca as she notices her distraught and lost face, distancing herself from the room.

"He doesn't know, the father of the baby, my dad, no one. And i'm not sure how I can tell them when I know the kind of feedback they'll all give me. _You're too young! You're life is just beginning! You're throwing away your free college ride!_ " Beca angrily mocks them.

"Have you seen anyone? An obstetrician for an ultrasound? An adoption counselor maybe? I'm sure we could find your baby a nice home...if that's what you want." Chloe insists.

"I'm not sure because i've chosen not to give it much thought. But yeah, adoption was kind of the route I was headed,… get my life back on track after the baby is born. This isn't just my life I have to think about, it's about putting my baby's life and needs ahead of mine first." Beca informs her.

"Whatever you need." Chloe promises, Beca feeling relieved that Chloe wasn't trying to interrogate her or push her to make any decisions, making her feel like she could grow up a little slower, at least for a little while yet.

Beca smiles as Chloe stands, turning to the kitchen to grab some coffee, and some hot chocolate to drink as the girls sat on the couch, Chloe throwing a blanket over Beca then herself before breaking the silence.

"We'll get you into a doctor tomorrow, if she's not filled up too fast." Chloe informs her, handing her a piece of paper with the Obstetrician's number.

 **-XXX-**

Beca's legs bounced up and down on the table, listening to the sterile paper crinkle underneath her thighs as she nervously waited for the doctor to arrive. The backs of her legs felt cold from where the gown opened, feeling goosebumps form beneath them. Beca was soon startled by three light knocks, before the door slowly opened and the doctor, along with an assistant arrived.

The Ob-Gyn herself was small, with a thicker frame and light, Auburn hair, while her assistant looked as if she was still a college student, barely nineteen or twenty. She had a tall, thin frame though her bigger chested body popped out proudly, making the rest of her upper body look unproportionate and flat in comparison. Her hair was dark and curly, tied up into a flimsy top bun and her magenta pea coat unbuttoned. She followed the doctor, her heels clicking loudly behind the doctor, and Beca thought to herself that this girl looked nothing like a "baby" doctor, let alone someone she'd want delivering her baby, especially with her long fingernails, such as golden daggers or eagle talens.

"Hey Beca, i'm Doctor Matz, and this is my intern, Stacie Conrad, who will be here for most of your sonograms." She announces, looking to the intern as she waves her hand in a rainbow like motion, smiling brightly, showing nearly all of her gums as her eyes smiled like the rest of her face; Blue eyes such as Chloe's, just not nearly as glassy.

Beca squeamishly shifts on the bed, cringing at the thought of any needles or gloved hands coming her way. Doctor Matz only smiled, shaking her head as she reassured Beca that there was nothing that would feed her fear.

"We're only gonna do a blood test to confirm your pregnancy, and do a routine check-up. Then Stacie is gonna do a sonogram while we wait for your results."

Beca did as she was told, her eyes growing big and dramatic as she watched the doctor poke a small needle into her skin and draw blood, then transfer it to a vile to be sent to a lab. Stacie had held her hand, smiling reassuringly as she reminded her of how it was only routine, such as a yearly visit to a doctor or a gynecologist. Beca felt tension leave her body as Doctor Matz finally left the room, taking with her the vial containing her blood as Stacie prepared the sonogram.

"Not to sound weird, but this is my favorite part of interning." Stacie admits, glowing excitedly at the screen as she began to smear jelly on Beca's bare stomach.

Beca was afraid to admit she had some anxiety going into the ultrasound; She worried of not hearing a heartbeat, this unexpected baby becoming something Beca longed to hold onto, to love even if her father failed to. Her past experience with her own mother had only made Beca long and hope more for a second chance, getting to relive her childhood as a mother to this child. But Beca quickly shook her selfish thoughts, realizing her desires couldn't be stronger than her will to find her child a better home.

But Beca had continued to glare at the ceiling, listening to the soothing sound of her child's strong, bold, loud heartbeat beating like a bull, and she knew this child would be strong willed from the beginning. Beca tried to stay level-headed, focusing on the bigger picture rather than her desire to keep the child. ' _He or She needs a better home, Beca.'_ She reminded herself, realizing that no runaway rebel could be suited as a mother.

"Wow, she's got a really strong heartbeat." Stacie exclaims before printing out the sonogram.

"She?" Beca coos, repeating in excitement.

"It's too early to tell, but I always interchange the pronouns 'He' and 'She', because 'baby' just sounds too generic for this precious little bean." She smiles as Beca coos.

Beca stares in awe at the picture, time passing so slowly before being stopped solid in its tracks, Beca not feeling her worries around her but rather her heart glow as she stared at her child, before the doctor returned and her thoughts were shaken.

"You're definitely pregnant; If I had to guess i'd say you're already around six weeks." The doctor informs her before issuing a generic ' _Congratulations'._

As Beca left, she stuffed the picture of her 'bean' in her shoe, neatly pressing it in the heel of her boot not to wrinkle it, but to hide it so that when she returned to her dad for dinner that night, he wouldn't be suspicious, though now Beca felt herself jumping with slight joy, potentially considering all the ways she could make it possible to keep the baby because up until she saw the baby, adoption was her only other choice, and now she couldn't help but curious as to where life would take her next.

 **-XXX-**

"Dad, you're not gonna like this, but I'm an adult now and fending for myself is just something I must do." Beca begins, staring at him from across the table, all sincerity in her eyes.

Her hands were hidden beneath the table, holding the picture of 'bean' between her hands, running her fingers over the smooth surface of the picture, feeling comfort in knowing that there was always going to be this child as a second chance to do things right. Her upper lip trembled nervously, as beads of sweat dripped down from it's quivering v-shape, the salty taste making Beca's mouth feel even more dry. Her dad sat with an eyebrow raised in question, waiting to see as to what his daughter had to confront him about. If it was about dropping out, he wouldn't and certainly didn't want to hear it, and Beca knew that. But avoiding the inevitable wouldn't make it go away, it would only strain her relationship with her dad further. They needed time to sort this out, let alone adjust to the news.

"I'm coming to you first to tell you that it's my decision whether or not i'm going to drop college, and I will. You can't stop me dad, I know this is what I want."

"Beca," He leans his head back exasperatedly, "You're making a mistake." He reminds her calmly.

"Am I?" She insists, taking a deep breath as she begins to slide the ultrasound across the table.

He doesn't move, doesn't blink, just blankly stares as Beca second guesses herself, beginning to slide it back towards her before an angry hand flies across the table, retreating it back towards him.

"HOW could you be so stupid as to throw away your free college ride for this?!" He exclaims, first to himself before standing up and pounding his fist against the table in frustration.

Beca gave him about five seconds to cool his temper before even trying to begin to respond, but her father was ahead of her, already prepared to give her a speech.

"Getting a tattoo behind my back, dropping out of college, any of that is one thing, but this you can't take back! How in the world is an internship going to prepare you to raise a baby? It can't because you won't be making any money! What a stupid career choice Beca, i'm very disappointed." He leans back in his chair, his hand over his face as he shakes his head, unable to speak further.

"Dad, i've already thought this through, he or she is being placed for adoption…" She pleads.

"If you were one to think things through, you'd realize the mistake you're making. You're throwing your life away like some ungrateful little squirm! You're every bit just like your mother, not realizing it when she's got it good!" He insults her with a sharp tone, throwing meaningless words at her without ever looking up.

Beca's heart stopped, feeling as if she had just hit a brick wall at full speed head first, pounding everything that's happened to her into her head at once, rushing in and making her come to the realization that her father wasn't really angry; He was every just as confused and concerned as she was, and his skills to communicate with others appropriately how he felt were just as good as Beca's. They both pushed others away and said meaningless, hurtful things when they didn't know what else to do or say.

"Please Beca, give me sometime to let this sink in." He massages his temples, more calmly than before.

"Fair enough," Beca calmly stands, scooting the chair out from behind her and avoiding her father's glare as he watched her inquisitively.

"Get out!" Her father finally roared,only infuriated by the calmness in Beca's tone of voice, only enraging him further.

Beca collects herself, calmly, unphased and proudly holding up her head through her grand exit, though she could feel her father's words stab at her chest, her heart sinking to her stomach as she held her hand over the pit of her stomach, fear causing her lungs to feel as if they were deflating and her throat feeling dry and tight.

Beca knew this angry beast was not her father; Her father knew that a daughter should think best of her father, the man of the house, not one she should fear. He believed that it was the dad's god given duty to take the responsibility to keep an orderly household and maintain peace, to be the godly example everyone looked up to, as well as Beca having a good impression of. When her parents had gotten divorced, he had not wanted Beca to look down on her mother, so he had taken the fault. He was a gentle man, going through what Beca called, "His late mid-life crisis.".

She walks out with nothing more than the ultrasound in one hand, and the clothes she managed to grab before coming down the stairs to tell her father her news. She didn't know where to go from there, her feet absorbing the rain puddles like a sponge, her feet feeling as heavy as her heart, but nonetheless, it wouldn't change in her heart how she knew this baby was not a mistake; An unplanned blessing, she called it.


	4. Home Sweet Home

The rain dripped off the leaves of her infamous oak tree in the quiet and bare quad, Beca holding her things tightly to her chest not only to keep warm but to prevent them from becoming wet. She didn't know where to go, knowing she had been three days homeless and had become a five day college drop-out, her card to the library revoked, no longer allowing her admission into the warm and dry, cozy like a grandma's house, shelter.

Beca felt shivers run over her body, uncontrollably shaking as her damp clothes clung to her skin, and she wished for nothing more than a home cooked meal, but her father already thought her to be long gone, curious of her where-abouts, and sending her semi-apologetic voicemails, waiting for them to talk it out, but Beca knew that it was only guilt or fear of his daughter being somewhere dangerous that got to him.

Chloe on the other hand, welcomed Beca into her home as a safe refuge every now and then, Beca pretending to leave her things there because she needed a place to keep her extra things, or she would "visit" for dinner. But the truth was, Beca loved being in that home, the warm vents blowing heat into her blanket as she lay against the warm metal as she did as a child, and she shivered every time it would turn off, the aluminum cool against her skin. Chloe had even came to check on her in the middle of the night once, laughing as she passed by the door wide open, on her way to the bathroom, watching Beca curl in a ball and take in the warmth of it all.

She longed for that feeling again, the warm vent, Chloe's soft fleecy sweater, smelling of vanilla and some spices of which she couldn't name but knew her mother had often used in her cooking. She was reminded of home when she was there, but she knew taking refuge in a nearly stranger's home could only be temporary, knowing that eventually she would have to leave, the girl's graduating at the end of the year and all the money she would save up during that time, she would use after the baby's adoption to move out to L.A, and begin her DJ career. But that too would run out and she would be left scrambling, striving to live comfortably as walked the streets like an awkward and failing misfit.

The thunder began to rumble above her head and Beca knew that could only mean lightening was to follow. The sky became darker and the clouds began to move, Beca grabbing her coat from her bag and holding it over her head as she made a mad dash for the cafe, sitting under the awning as she peered in the window, watching the happy college kids, sipping their warm beverages as they contently chat among themselves.

"Beca?" She notices Tommy mouth to her as he peers through the glass window.

He walk over and pushes open the door, yanking her inside and offering her a dish towel to pat herself dry. As soon as she's comfortable again, she sits at the front counter and stares back at Tommy as he fixes a drink.

"I've um… got no money." Beca informs him as he slides it to her.

"It's on me." He winks as he wipes off the counter around him.

Beca hesitantly yet gratefully takes a sip, holding the cup between her shaking hands and brings it up to her face, letting the steam surround her face as she deeply inhaled, and the condensation dripped from her nose in result to coming to close in contact.

"So is there a reason you're chilling in the rain or do you just like that or something weird?" Tommy teases, resting his chin in his hands as he smirks at Beca.

"No, i'm just tapping into my inner nature freak." She remarks sarcastically.

"Rain Goddess?" He replies back, nudging her jokingly with his hand before she retreats, moving herself further back on the stool.

"What's your deal?" Tommy asks lightly as he tries to get her to react to his joke.

"That's for me to know and you to find out." She retorts.

"Real mature." He smirks, mocking her before she rolls her eyes.

Beca pulls out a soaking dollar bill from her pocket, sliding it across the table and watching Tommy pinch it between his fingers, hanging it with a clothespin on the order wheel above the sink behind the counter. She then slides from the stool, walking out the door without looking behind her, back into the rain as she slips her coat over her body this time, trudging her feet through the rain, while hugging her arms across her body to preserve heat.

She sunk beneath the rain gutters and awning above the main entrance to the lecture hall, hoping and praying that someone would be there even on a rainy and now windy Sunday afternoon. But all she could hear was faint singing, the tune of "Turn the Beat Around" ringing through the large theater, and Beca felt the rain lessen and her body loosen up, slowly fading into a gentle sleep as she slouched against the glass door between the brick wall.

"Hey shorty?" She suddenly heard exclaimed loudly through the empty air, and she glanced up, watching as Chloe's heavy and springy hair bounced against her shoulders, being weighed down by the rain.

Beca lifted her chin from her chest and pulled her knees close, burying her head in hopes that the embarrassment of how she looked would go away, along with Chloe. But instead, she felt that familiar and soft fleecy blanket being draped snugly around her, and two hands pulling her to her feet.

"Beca? Have you no mind?! You're gonna get sick! " She exclaimed in only a voice a mother or sister would use.

Chloe caught sight of tears streaming down Beca's distraught face and her angry face softened, wrapping her arms warmly around her and pulling her in.

"You're coming home with me; We have somethings to talk about, you and me." Chloe demands, pulling Beca along with her back to her car and Beca climbs in, feeling the instant blast of her heat blowing the wetness from her with the power of a hairdryer.

Beca begins to sob, looking to Chloe as she climbs in the driver's side and starts the car, flipping the windshield wiper on just in time to swipe the rough and quick downpour from her window. Chloe buckles then checks to see that Beca was too, and takes her back to their sorority home.

"Hang your clothes on the hanger in the bathroom and I'll throw them in the dryer while you shower." Chloe commands, showing her way down the hall to the bathroom with heated flooring.

Beca does as she is told, turning on the bathtub faucet and pulling up the plug, the steam from the warm shower surrounding the bathroom, steaming the mirror and wrapping Beca's bare body in a welcoming manner, as she climbs into the hot shower, feeling the warmth wrap her in its hug and the cold memories fade away. She hadn't heard Chloe come in, but waiting for her on the hook in place of her damp clothes was a fluffy towel and a long, fleecy robe, and Beca gratefully wrapped it around her, taking in its freshly washed scent of laundry detergent and noting the fact that it must have been straight out of the dryer.

As she pulled the thick, soft strings of the robe around her waist and fastened it snugly, she wrapped her towel around her head, feeling the warmth and hospitality of the ginger inside the simple yet friendly gestures she had received laid out for her.

"Chloe?" Beca nervously called as she exited the bathroom, feeling the steam follow her into the empty hall.

"In here Beca!" She called and Beca found her sitting on the couch, sharing a bowl of popcorn between Aubrey and herself.

The smell, more specifically the burnt popcorn from the first batch Chloe had attempted to make but threw away was making Beca's stomach lurch and flip, and she turned, holding her hand over her nose and mouth to shield the smell from her overly sensitive nostrils, and began to gag, hearing Chloe scramble from the couch and grab her by the shoulders, ushering her to the bathroom where she proceeded to throw up.

"Are you good?" Chloe finally asked, helping Beca to her shaking feet, struggling to regain balance from her vertigo.

Beca simply nodded and the two walked back, Beca sitting on the couch and Chloe sitting next to her, turning her body to face Beca as she crosses her legs. Aubrey takes the silent hint, knowing that Chloe wanted to talk alone, and it was completely fine with her, the two already previously discussing what Chloe had to say.

"We need to talk, you and I." Chloe looks firmly at Beca, though Beca darts her eyes down, glancing at her feet as she leans on her robe, keeping it covered over her body, despite it being long enough to reach to her mid-calves.

"There's nothing to talk about. We both knew that my dad wasn't gonna take this lightly, I've explained this to you." Beca reminds her.

"Beca, if you needed a place to stay you should've called me! All this time I was trusting that you had somewhere safe to be and left your things here because this is where you felt safe. I want to be your friend, but we have to establish first that honesty is important." Chloe lectures her, sounding slightly irritated but nonetheless relieved that she hadn't been injured or sick.

"Where do I go from here? I'm an eighteen year old pregnant, five day college dropout whose own father shunned her, and wants nothing to do with me right now. It's actually almost back to the way it used to be, how my parents would fight and I wouldn't exist."

"You know, I've been thinking, and we want to open our home to you, but we need to know if you want to stay, or if you'll leave because your safety is important. What makes you think that a pregnant eighteen year old girl can strive on her own in the cruel streets of wherever it was you were gonna go?"

Beca felt overwhelmed by Chloe's kind gesture, not taking time to realize that she had barely known this girl for about a month and she was still so willing to take her in, offer her a safe place to stay, despite their somewhat rocky beginning. She had felt the two were truly the fastest and closest friends, nothing ever being weird between the two, but Beca wishing she would have opened up sooner so that they could grow as individuals and become better friends.

"I'm not sure, and that's what scares me most; What could've happened had I left Barden on impulse, without stopping to think of the consequences." Beca begins to sob again, break down what used to be her indestructible walls, and Chloe offers her a tissue, rubbing her hand in soothing circles around Beca's back.

"Thank-you for not leaving!You know, I've always found it difficult to stop caring about someone, even long after they leave, or despite how long i've known them." Chloe reassures her.

"How'd you and Aubrey meet then?" She asks in a curious attempt to lighten their moods.

"She stress-vomited all over herself before Bella auditions our freshman year." Chloe amusingly informs her.

"And she was the only one that helped me through it, helping me clean up before my audition." Aubrey adds, walking into the living room and planting herself on the edge of the wooden coffee table.

Beca watches the two exchange friendly smiles, realizing what they had was unbreakable, almost as siblings, Aubrey the controlling for your own good kind of older sister, and Chloe, the optimistic, caring, 'I've got your back', kind of younger sibling.

"So, welcome home?" Aubrey asks Beca hopefully, and Beca hesitantly accepts, being smothered in a warm "Welcome" type hug from the blonde, realizing that she might not be so uptight after all. But boy was she ever wrong, and she had yet to learn that.


	5. Chapter 5

"Morning Beca!" Chloe exclaims cheerfully, turning from the coffee maker to greet the overly exhausted brunette.

Beca swayed from side to side as she shuffled into the kitchen, feeling the nausea take over her body as she held her mouth closed and her throat tight, avoiding any more vomiting for the morning after spending over twenty minutes puking and five more dry heaving over the bathroom sink.

The night hadn't been easy, and Beca found it usually better to keep things to herself, knowing that sometimes though it wasn't the best thing to do, but sheltering her feelings as to not to worry Chloe, but despite the effort, it hadn't worked and her walls all came down at once.

In the middle of the night she had found herself back on the front step of her father's home, shaking in the brisk pre-winter air, and waiting for the bold white door to creak open, and her father's loving arms to welcome her back into them. But instead the wind only blew through her hair, strands catching her face and sticking to her lips and she struggled to wipe them away as she held her light leather jacket over her body, crossing the sides over each other to close it tight.

" _Beca!" Her father peered around the cracked door, a scowling face painted upon him, his wrinkles being pulled over the corners of his eyes, dark and filled with resentment, disappointment, hate._

" _What's happened to you?" He exclaims in disapproval and shame, pointing to her suddenly enlarged stomach, watching as her baby's feet kicked and stretched her skin, looking as if they were about to go on a jail break._

 _Beca had clutched her stomach, bending over to look down, as she softly hummed to her baby, hoping to soothe their rage. But her water had already broken and the baby was on it's way out. Beca quickly looked to her father, but he had already shut her back out and Beca was left lying helplessly on the front lawn, giving birth to the child underneath the moon, hanging brightly above her in the sky. She looked down, wailing in antagonizing pain, watching as the baby burst its way out and smiled at her, reaching for her face before falling limp in her arms. She screamed, kicked and cried, beginning shamelessly for her father to let her in._

And that's when it hit her. She shot up from underneath her covers, covered in sweat despite the fact that she was shaking, her hands rubbing together to regain any feeling in them, and they were clammy, yet cool icicles that she was now pressing to her cheeks, taking breaths to calm down.

"Beca?" She heard a whisper, and she then realized how loud her shudders and whimpers must have been.

Beca rocks back and forth, leaning back against her headboard and bringing her knees to her chest, waiting out the small anxiety attack that had sprung itself on her, biting furiously and picking out all of her worst fears come true.

"Beca, it's okay! Whatever it was is gonna be okay." Chloe softly consoled her, turning her chin to face her, forcing her to make eye contact.

Chloe scoots under the covers beside her, wrapping her in a side hug and attempting to hold her still, rubbing circles on her back and trying to help her relax, feeling the way her body shook overwhelmed beneath her arms and noting how warm she was despite everything else appearing to be cold. She could also swear she heard Beca's heart thumping in her throat, and the bloodshot, wide eyed girl was shaken up, tears streaming down her face as she looked straight ahead, distant from Chloe's comforting hold, her eyes growing heavy but she couldn't find the will to close them.

"Becs, are you feeling alright?" Chloe repeats again, shaking Beca from her distant thoughts.

"Rough night." She grumbles, happily accepting the non-caffeinated coffee, choking down the bitter and rather plain beverage, and she reached for the sugar, hoping to lump in three spoonfuls before Chloe would stop her, lecturing her on how bad that was for the baby.

"Aw, poor thing!" Chloe coos in sympathy, making a sad face to express her empathy for the brunette as she makes her way around the counter, and wraps her arms around Beca from behind.

"I'm miserable Chlo, and at what cost?!" Beca insists melodramatically.

"When you hold that baby in your arms, it's gonna worth it, believe me. And even if this baby can't be your blessing, he or she was meant to make someone else happy, and be theirs. No child is ever a mistake Beca; They always belong to somebody. " Chloe smiles before Beca shrugs her off.

It was then when Beca looked down to her stomach and held her hand where she assumed her baby would be was when she felt it, the firmness of her stomach, tightening as it prepared to grow and house her baby for the next several months. Beca wasn't sure if she was just bloated or if she was actually starting to "pop", but she excitedly slid from the stool, trying to show Chloe was she had thought she had seen.

Beca grabs Chloe's hand, scanning it over her belly to prove a point and Chloe only laughed, calling it "mommy paranoia", and assured Beca that she was definitely pregnant, remembering the few times when they had first met when she rushed to hold the brunette's hair while she vomited over where ever she could find to do so.

"It won't be long before it becomes apparent that you're pregnant and not just bloated." Chloe assures her with a smile before turning to invite Aubrey to feel, in order to not make her feel as if she had competition for Chloe's friendship.

"Only thirty more weeks!" Aubrey exclaims before silently rejecting the offer, instead focusing her attention on digging through the duffle bag on her arm.

"Ready Chlo? _We've got regionals today!"_ Aubrey announces in a sing-song voice.

Chloe turns sympathetically to Beca, looking her firmly in the eyes as she reaches out her arms, placing her hand firmly on Beca's shoulders.

"Are you gonna be alright here alone while we're gone? Or do you want to tag along?" Chloe offers, sighing as Beca shook her arms off her shoulders.

As she boards the bus, watching stunned as the eight other Bella's climb the stairs onto the bus, and wondering why it wasn't more convenient for all of them to live together before Chloe explained that they hadn't added any new Bella's that year because the turnout was low and disappointing, but instead asked older generations to revisit them for what would be their final season if they couldn't find anyone to take over, knowing that they would probably be disqualified anyway.

The bus walls were lined with horizontal blue cushioned benches along the windows, and the girls sat with their bodies turned sideways to see outside. Blue curtains were laced through poles above, drawn back to let the sunny light inside and warm the bus on the exceptionally cold, snowy, yet sunny October day. Beca laid across the seats, taking up about four and a half feet of room considering she had drawn her knees to her chest, curling up in a ball and feeling her body shaking back and forth at every bump and turn in the road.

Alice lowered the rearview mirror, glaring at Beca disapprovingly behind her, taking in with disgust the cartlidge peircings and heavy eyeliner, uttering insults under her breath as she looked with disdain at the new friend joining them on the bus, and couldn't believe this is what the Bella's had come to. She was of course thankful that she hadn't joined, though she deeply under-estimated her singing abilities, not knowing what the Dj had to hide that could've changed the Bella's had she not been pregnant and joined the Bella's. But then again, Beca couldn't have possibly predicted anything to happen this way, but could imagine how her life would be or what she would do if she hadn't been pregnant.

"Beca, how are you feeling?" Chloe leans over and whispers, watching as the others curiously stare at the strange girl who had joined them on their little adventure.

Beca had felt dizzy most of the trip now and with two hours still left, she didn't feel as though she could take the nausea and felt as if she were to sit up, she wouldn't be able to keep anything down, not on these windy and hilly roads, moving up and down so fast her stomach touched her feet and didn't have time to recover before sinking back down again as they drove another hill.

"Could you please hand me my gatorade?" She groans quietly, rolling over on her left side to allow the sun to warm her pale face.

Chloe does what's asked of her and a little extra, going out of her way to check for a blanket in the cabin of the bus, pulling up the trap door in the floor and removing a flattened and rough blanket, obviously worn away by many uses and smelled musty with a slight hint of gas, but Chloe unfolded it and closed up the board, throwing it over Beca as she gratefully accepted it, pulling it around her body and beneath her chin, folding her arms and tucking them tightly against her body, feeling the tension leave as she attempts to fall back asleep, recovering from the long and rough night, despite being awake for almost six hours now. But she couldn't find her comfort spot and struggled to fall back asleep, instead glaring out the window as they entered a busy city and watching as she saw people in their everyday lives busying themselves on bus benches with their phones, failing to watch out for other people as some walked up the sidewalks with it in their hands, and others walking their dogs, stopping to pee on almost every hydrant or bush along the sidewalk.

It was then that Beca saw it, a young mother bouncing her baby in her chest carrier, looking as if she was hushing the screaming baby, one who Beca assumed was a boy given that "he" was wrapped in a green receiving blanket, and watches as the mom's hair, a messy bun with loose ends falling over her face, looks distraught and panicked as she stands under the awning of a local market, looking for sympathy from strangers around her.

Is that what Beca would become? Would she be a struggling single mother standing beneath random store awnings in the street struggling to keep her baby contained? What if she had no one to care for her after the baby was born and she was fending for herself? Seeing the mom had only strengthened Beca's want to place the baby for adoption, though part of her wanted this as a second chance to do things right, to raise her baby and find her way as a striving college drop-out.

They arrived at a red light and Beca stared out the back emergency exit near the rear of the bus, watching from a distance as the mother was then approached by a small, light haired man, taking the woman with his arm around her and walking with their older son down the sidewalk and around the corner. _A family,_ Beca thought as she sighed longingly, realizing that she wasn't in fact alone after all.

When they arrived at the ICCA's, Chloe and Aubrey were impressed to see the better facilities they had been moved to, slightly lifting their bitter and nervous moods towards their worst and final year, ready to take on the stage and at least make the most of what they had put together.

They had their own dressing rooms, Chloe and Aubrey sharing one together and offering Beca the couch in their room to rest while they performed, turning on the flat screen above the dresser in the corner and taking a trash can from the bathroom inside, setting it on the floor next to Beca's head as Beca curls into the cushions, feeling her body sink into the fluffiness of the worn couch, and falling restless as she struggled to get comfortable.

"Is that grunge on your couch gonna do anything besides sleep? She's as useless as a homeless dog." Alice whispers snarkily to Chloe as she peers around her body, watching as Beca rolled around, trying to find her "sweet spot" on the couch.

"She's not a Bella, just a friend." Chloe assures her, watching as Alice scuffs and turns to leave the room, slamming the door to announce her exit.

Beca soon comes to the realization that she would never sleep, and decides to wake up for the day, pulling her laptop out of its case and plugging in her headphones, listening to the mixes as she softly sings along. It was then that Chloe realized the true power of her voice, though Beca could hardly hear over her blaringly loud music.

"She's who we need to get the team together!" Chloe exclaims suddenly to Aubrey's surprise.

"What? No, no way! She's too, alternative!" Aubrey insists, begging silently that Chloe would forget the instant thought.

"That's what we need 'Brey! We can't possibly continue with traditional songs expecting them to change how the judges feel. They're getting old, repetitive, boring! We need fresh, new faces that can bring something unique and offer creativity to the group, something original outside our comfort zones!" Chloe insists, tugging at Aubrey's arm, widening her eyes such as a puppy would.

"Chloe… We stick with tradition, it's what Alice made us promise to do as did the generations before her. I've got the pitch pipe now, I make the decisions." Aubrey sighs exasperated, losing patience with the Ginger's uncanny persistence.

"Then why does Alice get the lead for our first song, and the solo for our final number?" Chloe smirks to make a point, and Aubrey groans, giving in to the ginger's persistence.

They both glance to Beca who was oblivious to their conversation, staring blankly at the screen as her pointer finger mindlessly scans over the mouse pad, searching for and moving clips of music from one point of the screen to the next. Chloe gently nudges Aubrey towards the small brunette, whispering her encouragement as she pushed her closer towards her.

"Um, Beca?" Aubrey steps forward, nervously clearing her throat.

Beca removes her headphones, staring up at Aubrey as she slightly closes her laptop, putting on hold whatever work she was in progress of doing before being interrupted. She glanced curiously at the tall blonde who was anxiously curling her bare toes opened and closed on the plush beige colored carpet.

"We really could use someone new in our group, and i've kind of been coming off rough and cold towards you but if you'd like, would you join us in helping rebuild our group?"

Beca glares around Aubrey to stare unknowingly at Chloe, unsure what to do and Chloe nods encouragingly, waving her hands and urging her to answer, excitement and pure joy on Chloe's hopeful face and it was then that Beca realized it would crush Chloe to hear her say no, but at the same time, there was no way that an a Cappella as honorable as them (So she thought unknowing of Aubrey's puke episode the previous year) would allow a rebel misfit, pregnant college dropout as herself into the organization and group. She felt as if she'd never fit in.

"I'm not sure… sorry. I'm not technically a college student anymore and i'm pregnant so…" Beca informs her and Aubrey secretly sighs relieved.

"We can make adjustments." Chloe jumps in before Aubrey briskly turns around, glaring at her with narrowed, warning eyes as she fakes a subtle tone.

"No Chloe, she's right." Aubrey jumps in, her voice wavering on the edge of complete breakdown and irritation.

"But she can help with arranging the sets and nailing down the choreography. I've heard her mixes and they're pretty good." Chloe suggests, and Aubrey sighs, giving in and agreeing, only waiting to see if Beca would do the same.

Before Aubrey can react again Beca sits up further, looking directly at the two standing face to face in front of her, feeling the awkward tension between the two friends and interrupting their small argument to throw in her input of the situation.

"It's apparent that you need some new people and some help but Aubrey's right, i'm not your girl, and it's obvious that Aubrey also is afraid to be different so…" Beca infers, adding, "I'm flattered." to the end to insure she wasn't coming off too bold.

Beca had been wanting to lay low since the day Chloe had walked into her bedroom, observing Beca as she sat on the floor beside her laptop, full on writer's block inducing her to the extreme boredom, where she sat with her plastic drinking cup empty beside her and curiously under sudden impulse, flipping it over and began tapping on the base of it, remember the song her mother had taught to her and sung millions of times during her childhood.

 _Tap, Tap, Pat, Pat, Pat, Tap, click, clack…_ She began, remembering the distinct pattern her mother had taught her to begin before her song, keeping the beat and rhythm of the motion while multitasking and adding in the song. Beca had no difficulty picking this up, taking to it right away as she had with double dutch jump rope, much the same abilities required to do so, singing and jumping to the beat at the same time, seeing how far she could take it, drag it out before messing up or watching as the cup would slip from her small, grimy hands.

" _You're gonna miss me when I'm gone…"_ Beca bellows out a bit louder than she began, unaware that Chloe had passed by, being drawn to the doorway by her ears, the warm sound of Beca's vocals proudly echoing down the hallway.

"You can sing!" Chloe exclaims in amusement, excited of the first real time she heard the brunette sing and felt impressed with the hidden talent Beca had hid thought she would die if anyone knew.

Beca had only wanted to be a Dj with her sick mixes, longing for nothing more than spending long hours in a radio shack playing covers of her own songs and protecting her face from the outside world, her secret hidden talents covered by her Dj-ing facade.

"I'm really only a shower singer. Dj-ing is more of my hobby you know, like making mixes and things?" Beca responds sheepishly, caught off guard.

"You're into that stuff? I didn't know that you could do that! You've got some talent!" Chloe exclaims encouragingly, hoping to persuade her to possibly help the Bella's, if she were able to work that into the conversation somehow.

Chloe sits and crosses her legs beside Beca, leaning in curiously to see what she was doing on her laptop before Beca unplugged her headphones, allowing the ginger a closer look into what she loved to do, other than the mere "sneak peek" she had under the oak tree that one time.

"Well you should think of joining the Bella's! We could always use an extra hand on creating some new numbers."

"Um, no thanks. Aubrey already seems like she's pretty set on whatever it is you guys are already doing." Beca insists, hoping to end the conversation.

Beca felt proud of what she did, and she secretly loved the idea of helping out with the Bella's but she knew in her mind that she couldn't possibly be wanted on the team, that Aubrey would resent her if she suggested any change, stuck in her old ways of wanting to stick with tradition and Beca didn't know it at the time, but Aubrey also wanted a second chance at finals that year.

"She's controlling, but I'm hoping that someone like you would help us out?" Chloe pleads, looking wide-eyed and hopeful at her.

And Beca didn't know how to respond them, offering a sheepish "I'll think about it" though she had already made up her mind, and now she found herself caught once again in the ginger's persistence of wanting her to join, and she felt if she had no way out, not wanting to see them fall flat on their face's, but realizing what a mess her life had become. Adding an extracurricular activity would only narrow her time further, already scrambling to find an adoptive couple despite that she still had at least seven more months to go.

"I'm sorry Chloe, I just can't." She responds and she swore she could see Aubrey's face light up with joy, as she turned to leave, in order to get ready for their performance.

"Please consider. I've heard what you can do and I really think that if you find time to do this for fun that creating mixes for us wouldn't be any different." Chloe adds before turning to leave.

" _Dang it."_ Beca thought, feeling bad as she groaned, rolling over to face the back of the couch, snuggling deeply under the covers as she sank into the cushions, wishing her thoughts and feelings would disappear into the cushions too.

 **-XXX-**

Beca lay on the bathroom tile, a towel beneath her head as a makeshift pillow and her knees drawn to her chest as she shivered, longing for a blanket but not finding the strength to get off the floor, let alone wake Chloe to get her one. She was feeling the worst she had felt this entire pregnancy so far, barely marking the fourth month and still feeling as if she constantly had something in her stomach, even when she had nothing at all to throw up, leaving her to dry heave for a few solid minutes after each episode.

"Beca? Why are you lying on the floor?"

Chloe's hand flies over her nose as she says her name, taken back by the surprise of the foul smell being emitted from the bathroom. She nuzzles her nose underneath the collar of her t-shirt, holding it over her nose with one hand as she reaches under the sink and pulls out a washcloth, wetting it under the cool faucet water with one hand, and attempting to wring the water out, then setting it on Beca's forehead, radiating enough heat to cook an egg upon it.

"You're sick." Chloe notes as she removes her mouth from inside her shirt, and sits beside the brunette, rubbing circles on her sweaty back.

"Just morning sickness and mild cramping, it's nothing, I promise." Beca insists, grabbing for Chloe's hand as she was suddenly feeling afraid to be left alone.

Beca shivered against the tile flooring, wishing more than anything that she could find the strength to not only get up but to be brave, realizing that the whole reason she was on the floor wasn't only from the gut crippling morning sickness, but the fact that she had felt afraid to leave and face the world, despite it being already near six in the morning.

She had felt hopeless, wishing more than anything that she could be in her own bed, rolling over aimlessly as she dreaded her alarm going off, wishing that she could smash it with her fist, and make the school day disappear. But her life hadn't gone that way, and it wasn't going to, and she had to accept the fact that whether she kept the baby or not, she was pregnant, she was going to be a mother one way or another, and that she would have completely fallen on her face had she not met Chloe, and the thought of being out on the streets scared her even more than the fact that she didn't know what her future held now.

"Beca, I got you some tylenol from the cabinet, but you've got to get ready soon. I'm taking you to your appointment today." Chloe nags her in a motherly tone, bending down at her knees to set the medicine cup by her mouth, ensuring that she would drink it.

Beca groaned as she sat up, feeling major headrush as she struggled to stand, feeling cotton mouthed and dehydrated from puking for almost the entirety of the night. She stood and got dressed at snail pace, sliding her legs hesitantly into her jeans, sucking in as she struggled to button the once loose jeans around her abdomen and hips. She groaned, jumped and wiggled, but the button wouldn't budge, and she sunk to the floor, feeling on the verge of tears. Nothing in life was going as planned, and this was just icing on the cake, reality setting in that she soon would become a mother.

Chloe laughs lightly, tossing her a pair of worn away sweats with the Barden logo on the side of the left pant leg, and the drawstrings around the waist dangling loosely at her thighs, Beca grabbing one string in each hand by the knots at the bottom, and tying them tighter around her waist, folding the waistband down and yanking them up. She sighed relieved, thankful that she could still tie the sweats tightly around her. She finally pulled a loose sweatshirt over her stomach, making her looking bulky, but nonetheless she looked small and thin inside, compared to bloated when she was wearing jeans. But Beca felt it was still too soon to wear maternity pants, not to mention that they wouldn't ever be an eighteen year olds dream wardrobe.

Chloe grabs her keys from her hooks hanging above her mirror, and throws her jean jacket over her shoulders, leaving ahead of Beca to start the car and warm it up, feeling the heat blast from her shaking heaters, listening as its rickety shutters shook and emitted a smell Chloe could only explain as "Dirty air".

Beca climbs inside, pulling the seatbelt over her barely 'popping' stomach, fastening it into the hook and leaning her seat back, feeling a wave of nausea run over her with full force. Chloe looks to her as she drives, checking to see if she was going to be okay before nervously tapping her on the shoulder.

"Chloe, can you pull over for a sec?" Beca murmurs, rolling her head to the side, staring out the window as the road quickly and blurrily passed by, the broken lines in the road looking as if it was just one.

"Are you gonna get sick?" Chloe asks without any intention to wait for an answer, pulling to the side of the road and watching as Beca's door flies almost immediately open.

Beca puked for a few minutes, bile hacking up from her throat, spraying the green grassy patches and pebbles on the sandy road, and continuing to dry heave for a solid minute before sitting back up, putting her foot out of the door in order to hold it open in case she were to get sick again, as a precautionary measure. Chloe unbuckles and leans over, rubbing circles over her back and pulling the hair tie from her wrist, wrapping Beca's hair into a low pony, hanging long and flat against her back. Her throat burned as she sipped her water in the cup holder, leaning back and breathing deeply in order to ease the nausea.

"I think they're some anti-nausea gummies in the glove compartment." Chloe informs her, reaching over and pulling open the door, allowing Beca to pull them out and pop three gratefully in her mouth.

Upon arriving to the Doctor's, Beca shoved herself in a corner, turning to put on a dark blue gown, reaching behind her to tie the back together, and sits back on the exam table, a thin paper sheet crinkling as she placed it on her lap.

"Are you ready?" Stacie beams as Beca lifts her gown and places the paper over her underwear and lap.

The soothing and rapid heartbeat fills the room, surrounding Beca with a feeling of reassurance, knowing that even if he or she wasn't planned, that they were made from love despite the fact that Beca nor Jesse could take care of them. But Beca was an adult now and needed to make some decisions, not just off of what she wanted but based off the baby too. Would she change her mind and keep the baby? Surely she would make ends meet somehow or another, but if Jesse didn't know of the pregnancy, how could she be offered child-support, or support of any kind for that matter?

"It looks like he's striving in there; He's a tough guy just like his mother." Stacie informs her, watching as tension leaves Beca's body and she smiles from ear to ear.

"He? Are you sure?" Chloe asks, oblivious to the fact that Stacie used just general pronouns.

Stacie doesn't answer but instead clicks some buttons, searching around the screen to confirm her suspicions before Chloe shifts uncomfortably at the unsettling silence. With pure impulse to lighten the mood without being too forward, Beca clears her throat, looking hopefully up at the frazzled brunette, scrambling around the screen silently and Beca hears as her talon like fingernails click against the keys rapidly and loudly.

"Oh no…" Beca hears the unsettling words being muttered under Stacie's breath, and watches as she briskly leaves the room, a blank face on her painted face.

It comes as no surprise when Stacie returns with Dr. Matz, gloved and ready to take a look as she presses her cold and rubbery fingers on Beca's stomach, looking for any sort of reaction, and shakes her head when Beca grimaces in pain at the pressure on her lower stomach.

"Beca, have you had any cramping or bleeding, even if it's light?" Doctor Matz asks, without ever giving Beca indication whether it was bad or not and Beca hesitantly nods.

"Placenta Previa." She whispers to Stacie and she nods, writing a note on her clipboard.

Chloe anxiously watches as Dr. Matz searches the screen much as Stacie had, and she looks to Stacie, pointing out images and muttering medical terms which she nor Beca understood before looking to Beca, sitting her up and looking at her firmly.

"Beca, you have what's called, 'Placenta Previa', which means your placenta is lying unusually low in your uterus. You're baby isn't being supplied with the correct nutrients from the placenta either." She informs her, and Beca feels her jaw drop as if it just smashed into a million pieces on the hard linoleum floor.

"The baby's not suffering, is he?" Beca's voice wavered nervously.

"No, but there is a risk that you could bleed too much during delivery. We'll have a follow up appointment to check where it is later on in your pregnancy because there is a chance it will move as the uterus grows. But if worse comes to worse, you'll need a c-section."

Beca looks to Chloe, her heart heavy with worry and her eyes widened in fear, her pupils dilating to a size three times bigger than her stomach, and Chloe outreaches her hand, smiling reassuringly to her friends, though she didn't feel confident herself that she'd be okay. The whole ride home was much the same, silence filling the dead air around them as Beca watched the lines on the road fly by and Chloe fixed her stare straight ahead, pondering what in the world could be zooming through Beca's head at the moment, worries bouncing off of her brain like a ping-pong ball.

"Beca?" Chloe calls, trying to assure that she was alright.

Beca doesn't stare directly at Chloe but she can still see that her eyes were red, the rings around them swollen and big, the wrinkles aging her a few years. She looked completely exhausted, her bottom lip quivering as she sucked in her breath, trying to calm the furious and shaky sobs being emitted from her.

"Beca, he or she is not in pain; Dr. Matz told us so! Look at me and promise that you'll trust me." Chloe coaxes calmly.

"There still is a chance of a miscarriage, Chloe." She snaps, her voice razor sharp.

Chloe's taken back by the sharpness in her voice, her words fierce and eyes angry and full of angst, realizing that Beca was no longer just a lost pregnant college dropout. Beca truly saw this pregnancy as something of importance, as if she was trying to fill a void she saw in her family, and replacing it with something bigger and better, not just a baby, but her own second chance at a happy family life.

Chloe's eyes smile at Beca though her glare never leaves the road, and she senses the tension in Beca's clammy and shaky hands, their grip losing its hold on her seatbelt as she hugged to it as a comfort object. Chloe replaced the seat belt with her hand and heard and felt Beca sigh with relief and reassurance as she gave it a brief and firm squeeze, quickly replacing it back on her steering wheel.

"It's gonna be alright; You're safe now." Chloe's reprimands gently, her words echoing in Beca's head and Beca knew she wasn't just talking about the baby, but her life itself.


	6. Blowin' in the Wind

Beca hadn't a clue as how she would ever support this child, let alone afford the prenatal care without a job, but Chloe had volunteered to step in, and little by little, she had hoped to help this clueless brunette back onto her feet, at least temporarily.

Beca knew without a job and with only a few months left until his or her arrival, she figured she'd have to scurry to find a home, adoptive parents, and a job all before the school year ended and Chloe and Aubrey would be thrown out on their own two feet, and Beca would be left homeless, that was if her dad wouldn't come around before then. However, there was still the option to join the Bellas, scoring a place to stay but also having to work yet another thing into her chaotic life.

"What about that cafe at the corner of the quad? Have you considered applying there?" Chloe looks up from her laptop, sliding it across the counter for Beca to have a look.

"A job is a job at this point, and my bills are going to be a mile high before this baby comes." Beca groans, realizing how she sounded just like an adult, complaining much as her father had when he received his.

Beca anxiously tapped the counter with her nails, noting how the prenatal vitamins had turned her brittle and yellowish nails into hard and shiny, firm nail beds. She still gnawed at them despite Chloe' pleas to clip them, worried of infection. Beca would constantly and mindlessly scratching at her itchy stomach, just another side effect of pregnancy. Beca found it nearly impossible to stop, her itching becoming a nervous tick at triggers such as stress, like when she was searching for hours on end in the corner of the cafe while Chloe was at school, looking for the right agencies, before one day coming home, collapsing helplessly on the couch.

"Beca, you can't give up this easily, especially when you know it's the best thing given your situation." Chloe reminds her, gently rubbing her hand in gentle circles around Beca's back as she lay sideways on Chloe's lap.

"Doing the right thing hurts, especially when I have all the reason in the world to be hesitant. Don't you see this baby as a second chance?" She sighs, turning slightly to stare up at Chloe behind her.

"Beca your parents not working out was no fault of your own. But this baby is coming into a single mother home, so really despite all the love you give him or her, they'd be better off in a home where the parents don't have to work two or three jobs just to support them. Don't you think that will make him or her feel unwanted?" Chloe infers.

Beca fixes her glare back to the ceiling, refusing to make eye contact as she bitterly turned from Chloe and crosses her arms over her chest, her lips unintentionally forming into a pout. She doesn't speak nor make eye contact, secretly hoping that Chloe would know just what to say.

"There's someone out there that can't have a child who wants a child, who has every right to care for and love a child, even if it isn't through flesh and blood. I promise, even though it hurts, you're doing the right thing by giving them and this baby a chance." Chloe adds after a few minutes of dead silence, Beca's glare fixed to the ceiling as tears stung the back of her eyes, widened with hurt and angst.

"Chloe, I don't want to put this baby up for adoption because that's what everyone thinks I should do, but because it's what i'm thinking is best, and right now, I'm not so sure."

She shakes, her lips quivering as she bit back the tears, her walls being torn down by the most life changing events in her life, but she still had refused to show Chloe that at that moment, she was completely vulnerable and soft hearted, aching for someone to step in and take control.

"Beca?" Chloe checks to see if she had fallen asleep, but instead she's distant, her shallow breathing the only sign that she was still listening.

"If only everyone could have their life together, this world would be an easy place, but it's not and now i'm pregnant and alone, clueless how to raise a baby, but torn between adoption and wanting a second chance to have my own family."

"Do what you think is best, the decision you won't regret, and don't hold yourself up to everyone else's standards or beliefs. Most people jump to the conclusion that adoption is necessary the minute they find themselves unexpectedly pregnant because they think it's the reasonable thing to do and they're afraid of what their family or society might think of them. They don't consider what they want, just what everyone else says is right." Chloe consoles her, running her fingers through the brunette's frizzy, two day old, curly hair.

"But I don't want abortion to ever be an option." Beca whimpers, shuddering at the thought.

"It's not at all what i'm suggesting, i'm just telling you to base your decisions for this baby for what you want for them to make you and more importantly them happy." Chloe informs her reassuringly.

Beca sighs, daydreaming what her life would have been like had she not found herself in this type of scenario. Would she have met Chloe? What if Jesse had stayed and helped her raise this child? The strangest thought of all that Beca couldn't answer with any certainty, is ' _Would I have ever become a mother?'_. Because up until then, she didn't think she could ever ponder the idea of motherhood until she was certain she was with the man she loved, and even then she wasn't sure of how it was possible that a child that hadn't been born yet had already torn down so much of her walls, making her into a possibly softer person, juggling emotions between her hands as she struggled with the inevitable.

Was it feasible that she would make motherhood a possibility and support this child without falling on her face?

"As much as I'm open to the idea of raising this baby, this is not how i'd expected to do it. And after graduation, where will we go?"

"Here, of course." Chloe chimes in before Beca can finish her thought. "Joining the Bella's and using music as your escape. It's changed my life, I swear." Chloe winks.

Beca knew that joining the Bellas or even just making sets for them to perform could be an easy escape from ending up who-knows-where. But she wasn't quite set on the idea and was secretly hoping to move in with Chloe and Aubrey after they moved, an even a tiny piece of her was hoping that she could muster the courage to go crawling back to her father, who would demand that the baby be adopted, and she knew at this point though she could not bear the thought, she needed to at least consider and look into it.

"Chloe, i'm scared, and clueless; I'm a mess." She begins to sob, shamefully burying her head into the pillow beside her, hating to admit when she truly needed help, but Chloe had already known, and accepted her despite the fact that Beca herself felt like dead weight around the house.

"You know, there's a church down the road that helps supply homeless and teen mothers supplies they need for when the baby comes. It's a charitable service." Chloe remembers suddenly, unaware that Beca felt unsure, as if Chloe didn't know what to do either secretly.

The following Tuesday, Chloe and Beca had decided to take advantage of the weather and walk along the outside of the campus, searching for the church on 4th street that housed all of the "free" supplies, knowing that Beca could endlessly search through piles of donated and used baby cribs, onesies, blankets and more.

As Beca walked throughout the room, picking up with disgust a pink blanket with a yellow stain the size of a toddler's fist, and briskly flinging the blanket to the table, shuddering.

Beca hated to accept handouts, worrying that she appeared weak and would be frowned upon but she knew the only possible way she could afford this baby would be through this charity, though she was beginning to feel that price shouldn't be playing a factor, nor whether Beca was ready to be a mom or not, because this baby was coming whether she chose to accept it or not, and adoption would only put another emotion toll on this already overly hormotional girl she wasn't ready to accept. She hadn't wanted this child to feel the same sense of abandonment that she had as a small girl, being left with a nanny most of her waking hours when she was in grade school until eighth grade.

"I know it's not ideal, but it's practical. You need some of these thing more importantly than others, and this is the only way I figure that you can get somethings for the baby without having to work three jobs, which you have none of by the way."

Chloe turns over her shoulder, sorting through piles of old baby onesies and looking for the most gender neutral, knowing that whatever the baby happened to be, that they would fit and have at least basic, warm clothing, and some lightweight stuff since he or she was due in late April or early May.

"You plan to breastfeed, right?" Chloe asks, turning around with five onesies hanging over her left arm.

"If you're suggesting we buy a used pump Chlo…" Beca begins, slightly smirking.

"No, but if you don't we need to work out how you're gonna feed the baby and costs of formula and all that." Chloe lectures her and Beca groans.

"You know, I'm really not sure this is what I want, but despite our struggles, I think that we can make it work. Me and little Juliet as a little family." Beca smiles, loving the idea of having a little girl, though she wasn't particularly girly herself.

They left with three paper grocery bags full of clothing, blankets, burp cloths, receiving blankets, and four pairs of petite pink and blue socks with lace around the tops. She had even picked up a few headbands in case the child was a girl and had no hair, the idea growing on her more and more though she had told herself she would be content with either, as long as she could show this child that he or she wasn't going to be pawned off like she had been.

The crib was no more than a worn away teal trimmed, pink and purple polka dotted, pack-n'-play, the mat on the floor of it tearing in some places, looking as if a mouse had gnawed right through the fabricated foam mat and the cardboard floor beneath, Beca grimacing at the thought of a mouse or family of mice being nuzzled warmly in a bunch beneath, and the mesh netting around the crib was no better, but it was still usable, a nice thick blanket for the floor and with a few handy stitching tricks from Chloe, and they'd have a cheap and portable crib they could disassemble and reassemble to their convenience.

"What if it's a boy?" Beca deadpanned, standing back in dismay and shaking her head at the overly bubbly baby crib, cringing at the thought of sleeping in something so bright, especially her own son.

"I'm living in the moment." Chloe teases, shrugging off the small details and replacing it with thankfulness for the crib.

As Beca with the help of Chloe carried the collapsed crib up the stairs and opened it in the corner of Beca's room beside her bed, Beca leaned against the wall, sighing with relief and releasing a breath she hadn't even realized she was holding in. Her fourth month belly was taking up a lot more room on her small frame, and her baby was still lingering in the smallest percentile for his or her weight and height despite Beca's size.

She didn't know if it was hormones taking over, or even if she was exhausted from her recent lack of sleep, but her eye filled with tears, enlarging to three times their size, and her vibrant blues turned glassy as she held back the tears, remembering her own pack-n-play she had used as a child, and though the memory of it was distant, she could vividly draw in her mind how she herself looked in it when she had long outgrown it yet still insisted her nanny Molly to put her in it. And her favorite, least favorite memory was when she came down with what they thought was a stomach bug at the time.

"Beca Renee!" Molly had scolded, catching sight of Beca using her pointer finger to scoop cookie dough from the large glass mixing bowl.

Three year old Beca had jumped, rolling the dough between her finger and thumb before popping her finger in her mouth and quickly sucking it off her finger, her eyes darting from the horrified look plastered on her sitter's face, and her eyes welled up, her brilliant blues swollen with worry.

"You're gonna get sick, Sweetheart!" She had consoled her, wrapping her long arms around Beca and lifting her from the counter.

And though Beca had felt resentment towards Molly for catching her, she soon regretted and learned a valuable lesson from her disobedience, waking in the middle of the night with an achy tummy, and hugging her small arms around her tiny waist and stomach as she shuffled through the hall, her blanket over her shoulder, into the spare bedroom in which Molly resided when both her parents were gone overnight.

And though Molly was not Beca's mother, and she longed for the days when her mother would do their 'I love you likes', she snuggled into Molly beside her in bed, and buried her head into her chest, feeling the warmth as Molly happily and willingly took Beca beneath her arms and the two had fell asleep, Beca stirring in her sleep and winding up with her feet where her head should be, restlessly changing her positions during the night to find comfort in a new way, but could not relax, her stomach churning as she felt a sick and full feeling in the pit of it.

Her stomach churned, turning in a full front flip before she leaned over the side of the bed, wiggling herself out from Molly's arms and projectile vomiting all over the plush rug and wooden floor. Molly woke to find Beca under the covers, shamefully crying as she buried her head into Molly's side.

"It's okay, Sweetheart; We'll clean it up, it happens to everyone." She comforts her, lifting Beca from the high bed and leading her back into her own room, grabbing a change of pajamas from her dresser and using a warm, wet washcloth to wipe the dripping vomit and tears from Beca's chin.

It was barely three in the morning and Molly couldn't foresee giving her a bath at the earliest hours of the morning, and tucked her in bed with her again, grabbing her blankets and allowing her to snuggle with them, nuzzling beneath the warm blankets, and scooting closer to the edge of the bed, reaching close enough so that if she threw up again, she'd puke in the blue plastic bowl, and it was the same bowl her mother had set out always, comforting a sickly and achy Beca, feeling as if her mother was right there with her.

Beca rested her hand against her now bulky and firm stomach, rounded such as a basketball or balloon, and she sighed, feeling butterflies as the baby squirmed or kicked or flipped, whatever he or she liked to do in their, comforting Beca by acknowledging their presence in there, their livelihood.

"Beca?" Chloe called Beca from her thoughts, concerned with the blank expression on Beca's face.

"She's kicking. Here, feel!" Beca says in awe, her hands scanning over her belly invitingly, grabbing for Chloe's hand.

"It's not long now, only four more months." Chloe assures her, her face lighting up with excitement and enthusiasm.

Beca groaned jokingly at the thought of being pregnant that much longer but knew with everyday longer the baby was inside of her, growing and striving, that he or she would be stronger as well as Beca, and she hoped and prayed that the baby would make it to term, knowing that with Placenta Previa, she may develop preeclampsia, or bleed profusely during delivery, a c-section being on careful demand and was on close watch.

By her twenty-eighth week of pregnancy, Beca had thought she was feeling fine up until she had woken up in the middle of the night, feeling slight nausea waving over her body, barely able to stand to go to the bathroom, her headrush so intense she only sat up and leaned over, her head in her hands.

"Chloe?" Beca's small voice echoed down the empty hall, panic heavy and apparent.

She heard Chloe's light footsteps sweeping against the carpet, and saw the shadow of her enlarged pajama top swishing as she entered the room, her ginger hair a big and black outline in the dark room, as she flipped on the flashlight of her phone.

"Beca, what's the matter?" Chloe prys with Aubrey close behind, feeling the instant heat being emitted from her forehead upon walking over and feeling her face for warmth.

Beca's body shook despite being warm, and her head spun, struggling to fix her gaze on Chloe's shadowy figure, and she leaned into her, silently begging her to help her up. Chloe grabbed Beca's hands, pulling her up and off the bed before wrapping her arm around her shoulder and carrying Beca to the bathroom beside her, despite the brunette weighing more than she initially appeared to or that Chloe thought.

Beca leaned over as she hovered the porcelain throne, her grimy palms gripping the sides of the seat as she hurled into the bowl, the splash of the water only sickening her stomach further, her face feeling flushed, and her head continued to spin beyond her control.

Chloe laid out a towel beside the toilet and Beca scooted toward it, resting her head on it as she rode out a wave of nausea she was certain was just that, and nothing more as she already felt like she had nothing else to lose. Beca curled into a ball and Chloe grabbed her a blanket from the hall closet, shaking it out of its neatly folded creases and covering Beca's shivering body with it before leaving the room, vowing to check on her the next morning, but it had been Aubrey who did it, despite Chloe disposition of always being the first to check on someone.

"Beca?" Aubrey softly cooed, careful not to scare her from her deep sleep.

When Beca hadn't moved despite always turning when the sun had shone on her face in the morning, she laid with the sun gleaming on it, her shallow breaths barely noticeable under her blanket, but Aubrey had knelt down and felt for a pulse anyways, panicking when found one, but Beca didn't stir.

"Beca?!" Aubrey called louder, panic heavy in her voice as she was careful not to shake her.

She had been in and out in the car, laying across the backseat with her head on Chloe's lap while Aubrey sped drove down the freeway, feeling conflicting emotions, her slight dismay towards Beca being lifted in the moment of panic, realizing that she never actually really hated Beca, just her general attitude towards everything itself, and was slightly bitter towards the fact that she hadn't wanted to join the Bella's especially considering a few weeks back when she had heard just a brief snip of a song being belted out, ringing off the shower walls.

Sure enough the Doctor Matz who had been on call, was able to examine her and diagnosis her with preeclampsia, her blood pressure soaring sky high to the point of passing out, and wasn't sure if it was stress related, or even it was yet another side effect of her placenta previa, which still hadn't descended any lower.

"Bedrest until her due date is the only surefire way of assuring you that baby and mom will be okay." Doctor Matz informs them, shaking her head as she fills out the release forms.

Beca's heart sank knowing that her plans to join the Bellas (which she had been leaning towards) were destroyed and torn down in one instant, and pushed away the bright side, realizing the time she had off of the internship could be used to continue to make mixes that she would secretly pawn off to Chloe to use as her own, knowing that if Aubrey knew they were hers, she might never be open minded to change and consider changing the set.

"Beca, it's gonna be okay." Chloe consoles her, noticing the distraught and lost look on the brunette's burdened face.

"Chloe and I promise that we'll help you with whatever it is that you need." Aubrey vows, Beca taken aback by her selfless commitment to her health.

As she was released under the close watch of her friends, Beca prepares to spend the next several weeks in bed, longing for her due date as the days would as expected inch by, becoming endless and irritable, itching to crawl out and do more than just stare at her screen and secretly, would watch the breakfast club, a distant memory of hers and Jesse's favorite movie, the couple spending hours during finals week watching the movies rather than studying for their high school exams, and not worry of nearly failing, both passing their senior years' with flying colors.

One morning, it had rained the entire night and the sun had just began to peek out from behind the thick, gray clouds, the sky turning a bright blue and the lake near their home glimmering in the light, not a sign of a gloomy day to be traced. Chloe had decided that after almost five weeks in bed, and six more before Beca was due, that Beca could at least get some small bit of exercise, as advised by her doctor to do under careful examination.

"Have you thought of some names?" Chloe attempts to break up the silence with a bit of small talk.

"I'm still feeling strongly about Juliet." She murmurs, avoiding eye contact as she buries her bare toes into the warm, grainy sand near the lake outside campus.

"Does it have significance? I mean, it's the name you've mentioned since you decided to keep the baby."

Beca bites her lips, curling them in towards her as she kicks her feet back and forth, shuffling through the sand and wringing her hands as if preparing herself for what she was about to reveal. Beca hurt deep inside, having a small, aching pain in her heart, feeling as if it would fall to her stomach and do a triple flip if this baby wasn't a girl. Why, she wasn't sure, just a part of her had hoped for one and she felt guilty for feeling so.

"My mother, she didn't come back after the divorce." Beca mutters uncomfortably, shifting her weight off her feet and resting her hands backwards on her hips to support her throbbing back.

"I'm sorry." Chloe could only offer, truly hurting for her but unsure what else to say other than small words of comfort upon seeing the unsure and hurt look on her face.

Beca was secretly dying to tell someone what really had happened, but she knew it was beyond her comprehension why her mother would take off after the divorce without a trace, not turning back once to see the lasting effect it had on her daughter.

"She claimed she only did it because she didn't want to hurt me; At least that's what my dad had tried to explain. But there's much sure i'm sure I don't know, and for some reason all these years, I've felt like it was entirely his fault, like pawning the failure of their marriage on him solely."

"This is no one's fault Beca, and I hope you don't think it was yours either. Somethings just don't work out even if they can be fixed, but this was beyond your control."

If only years earlier she had heard those words, or any comforting words from her parents, but the divorce is the reason she had become so adapted to shutting out her surroundings and other people because it's what her father had unintentionally done, spending his heart broken hours pouring his anger and bitterness into his grading, his assignments, his own daughter. And the worst part was that he hadn't realized that his relationship with his daughter that he had thought to be just fine had been impacted deeply, but she had learned to cope in unhealthy ways and thus her walls were constructed through years of hurt and pain and abandonment and still her relationship felt as if it couldn't or would never be repaired.

"It doesn't ever go away, the hurt; It just gets easier." Beca remarks of her childhood and not just the divorce, but the entirety of it.

"What was your mom's name…?" Chloe hinted with an indication to what the answer already was.

"Beyonce; What do you think Chlo?" Beca playfully responds in amusement, Chloe taken back by her lighthearted sarcasm in the serious moment.

As they continue their path back to the sidewalk and through the back of the quad, Beca eases into a slower walk until she completely stops, wincing in pain as she bites the corners of her cheeks, exhaling deeply as she attempts to withstand the pain without terrifying Chloe.

"You okay?" Chloe takes a step towards her, hesitant to help the girl if she didn't want it.

"Braxton hicks, or false labor. He or she likes to play games with me, like internal peek-a-boo or chicken or something like that." Beca laughs lightly, trying to take her mind off the pain as she breathes deeply in and out.

"Can I help in any way?" Chloe asks with sincerity, fully expecting Beca to shake her head 'no'.

"Can you make my life any easier? Starting with a pain-free labor?" Beca lightheartedly laughs, brushing off the pain.

Suddenly Beca's phone vibrates in the back pocket of her jeans and her hand instinctively reaches back, pulling it out and checking the caller I.D first before becoming hesitant to answer. As Chloe out of curiousity leans over to check on her as she watches Beca hold the phone firmly in her hand, she nods to Beca encouraging her with all the certainty in the world that it was time to make up, even if she heard some things she hadn't or wouldn't want to, but it would make things at least a little more smooth, less tense.

"Hey Dad," She mutters reluctantly.

"Beca, there's some things we need to talk about before you decide to keep the baby." He hurriedly pleas.

"Dad, my mind's made up." She insists close-mindlessly.

"Beca you can't keep the baby because of the second family thing you texted me earlier."

"You can't tell me why I'm wrong, i'm eighteen dad," She begins.

"Beca, i've been meaning to tell you; You're mother didn't run away because she didn't love you or that she was ashamed, and I certainly didn't drive her away."

"What are you talking about? Mom's been gone for awhile dad, how could this be something we just bring up again?" She snaps, anger rising in her aggravated voice of bundled emotions.

"Because your mother passed away of cancer last night Beca. She left because she didn't want you to see her in pain; She left us Beca because she couldn't bear the thought of her only daughter watching her wither away."


	7. Chapter 7

Beca angrily tosses her clothes in a continuous rhythm before slamming them shut inside the small suitcase as hot and bitter tears rolled down her cherry red cheeks. She had enough of everyone's insight on her life, and she had heard the last of any and every opinion not only from her father, but others on her baby. She had no specific destination in mind, just wherever she could cool off and free herself from the pressures she had witnessed and felt surrounding her life.

Beca had planned on packing up and solving her problems the only way she knew how: by running away from them, and refusing to talk to anyone about the rationality of it first. She knew it was crazy and more importantly, she knew what Chloe would say, but nonetheless would want to hear it.

Just the week before she had felt that her life had been pushed over the edge, her father finding it appropriate to drop a bomb on her in a lame and desperate last minute attempt to persuade her to see his way, and put the baby up for adoption, but she hadn't wanted to hear it. Now she found herself stuck, remembering the conversation she had tossed and turned on all night, hearing Jesse's words echoing in her head, and decided a last minute getaway where she could consider everything that's happened, though she knew she was thinking more with her head than with her heart at the moment.

"I'm not sure where i'm going or when or if i'll be back, but for now, it's just you and me, baby boy." Beca finds herself rubbing her hand along her stomach as she smiles through the tears, preparing to leave before Chloe returned.

Beca had demanded immediately after finding out the news of her mother, that she would find out the sex of her child despite Chloe's plea that it wouldn't change a thing.

She soon then realized how shallow it would be to be upset over the gender of the baby in which she couldn't control, and the fact that this baby no matter what, would be her son or daughter, Beca vowed to always love and never repeat history, especially the same she had with her mom. Either gender she would find out she had wouldn't change this unconditional love she had already had for this child, the one who in the past seven or so months, had completely allowed her to take down her walls.

"Beca, why would you name your child after someone you've resented so long?" Chloe inferred, watching as Beca waddled into the examine room for her weekly ultrasound.

"It's not about naming her after my mother; It's more the fact that her namesake would be the reminder that my childhood had some good in it and i'm determined for my child to have that." Beca informs her boldly, refusing to listen to Chloe reasoning.

Beca glares up at the monitor, watching and slightly feeling the tension ease up as she heard her child's strong heartbeat, feeling strengthened by the comfort and assurance that it would be okay.

"Beca, what would knowing the gender change, if anything?" Chloe begs to know.

Stacie happily takes the sensor from Doctor Matz, smiling as she watches the baby move on the screen, catching it as he or she flipped around, and pointed it out proudly to Beca. She had been in her final days of interning for credit, and began to purely enjoy doing it just for the joy of it, and her final project was to witness a birth, her side minor of midwifery something she had alway been curious to obtain as a skill.

"Do you mind if I'm there? It's kind of for my final." Stacie asks, slipping a permission form to Beca for her to scan over.

Beca had reluctantly agreed before facing Dr. Matz as she began to pack away the stuff and print the ultrasound, handing Beca a tissue to wipe off the petroleum.

"Um, do you mind if we find out the gender today? She piped up, and watched as she lathered the jelly on her stomach once again.

Now Beca dragged her suitcase, smiling as she remembered the ultrasound of her baby boy in her boot, and vividly drawing back the memory of how she grinned from ear to ear in astonishment. Her grief over her mother didn't lessen, she still terribly missed her no matter how much she hurt from her past, but smiled still knowing that she could work her mother's namesake in there somehow, realizing how silly it would be to be upset over something that was a surprise, but turned into something so life changingly wonderful.

" _Your dad's hurting too. You can't possibly believe you're going through this alone."_ Beca remembers Chloe's words echoing through her head as she walked outside of the campus and back down 4th street towards the church.

Beca sat against the bus bench along the outside of the brick building, beneath the awning that covered the walkway into the church just off the street, along the main sidewalk. She hurled her suitcase onto the bench beside her before slouching, trying not to make it obvious that she had become a slump, pathetically begging for sympathy with her heartbroken eyes. But it wasn't that she sought, but rather the assurance that her dad would come around before this baby was born, that they could patch their relationship, though she had no half expected to see her dad at the funeral as he had been just three days before.

The sun was setting over the pink and orange horizon as Beca began the shift on the bench, feeling the chilly winds whirl up her sweatshirt sleeves and her body shake, her hair slapping her face with an angry force, feeling as if her emotions had just came alive, her face feeling exactly how the rest of her did; Bitter, angry, hopeless, solicitous, angst, she couldn't conjure them all. Her muscles ached and grew weary, and she often woke up from dreams, feeling as if she had just lived them herself, her emotions all over as if she had just lived out a life event again, waking up in the mornings often moody, distant, her eyes widened and full of angst, the glassy blues seemingly to staring vacantly into nowhere.

It was then that she saw it, first just a mere shadow at the base of a tree across the street corner, then as it rounded the corner, a short woman, seemingly very pregnant, walking with a toddler holding onto her other hand, _A girl,_ Beca presumed as her scraggly, matted, oily pigtails came into plain sight from behind her mother's baggy gray sweatshirt, as thin and scratchy looking as an old carpet. She held a cigarette between her pointer and middle finger on her left hand, smoke streaming from the amber red end, glowing like the a fierce sunset over an ocean.

Her knotted hair, ends clumped together such as dreadlocks would, were chestnut brown and tangled between each other, looking as if she had very thick ropes or braided yarn for hair. Lips that were thick, skin on her face that Beca could clearly recognize as olive even in the dim light, a smile plastered upon it as wide occupying nearly her entire face, and Beca could see two or maybe even three teeth that weren't quite where they belonged and misshapen.

"Ellie, quit dragging your feet." Beca hears the woman snap to the child in a small yet fierce voice, yanking her along the sidewalk, firmly holding her hand to ensure that she would not stop to pick grass or even hop over the cracks in the cement.

The mother's widened hazel eyes looked as if they were burning from the smoke coming off her cigarette, and looked exhausted. Beca had assumed they were out to buy a new pack of smokes, or simply just a mother and her daughter going for a walk. But what she couldn't tell and didn't know was that they were searching for their safe refuge for the night, each and every night bringing a new place as the morning would come too soon and they would scamper from under restaurant awnings as if they were feral cats when the owners would could to unlock their buildings in the dawn hours.

All she had were the things she carried in her knapsack, worn away material barely being held together by some sticky and messily attached duct tape, and some coarse, thick yarn being tied around the top to keep the hood closed.

Beca wasn't sure if it was the scowl on the young woman's face, or the sudden vibration coming from her phone in her sweatshirt pocket, but she jumped a mile high as her heart pounded, struggling to regain calmness and ease the uneasiness of the night and from the woman she had felt.

"Beca? It's Aubrey; Chloe told me that you weren't there when she was home. What happened and where are you?!" Her panicked voice demanded through the phone.

"I'm not sure of what to make of my current situation right now with my dad. Look, i'll see you in the morning. Tell Chlo not to worry." She informs her calmly, looking to go no further with the explanation.

She stuffed her hands further in her pocket as she shoved her phone in and dug around for the tickets she had purchased early that day, pulling them out as the bus pulled up and she began to board.

"Where to, Miss?" The deep voiced man, one such as a twenty year smoker, croaked as she handed him the tickets.

"Bartlett Square; Towards the adoption and family support center." She informs him before finding a seat in the empty back row.

 **-XXX-**

"Hi! Beca Mitchell, my six o'clock?" The overly enthusiastic middle aged counselor had turned to greet her, sliding a folder into a sliding cabinet and pushing it closed before coming around the desk and motioning Beca to sit in the chairs.

Beca looked around, surrounding by large and overly posed portraits of children with their adoptive parents, one catching her eye of just one mother, holding her child's hand with what appeared to be a grandmother, each holding a hand of the child's and swinging him into the air. She cringed knowing that this could never be her father's relationship with his grandchild, let alone ever with her when she had been a child, hand holding and swinging being strictly her mother's thing.

Beca knew that from birth she had won over her father's heart, straight from the moment the nurse had handed her over and her father coddled her in his arms, doting over her with a proud papa face only experienced parents could recognize. Her mother told her so from a young age, telling Beca how she wished that she had been so young and clueless, but ever so thankful that it didn't stop her from keeping Beca. A young woman taking on the world and a new child, though her father (of course) had been adamant on adoption from the very first sign of a positive on that dollar store pregnancy test, a young couple barely ready to even raise a puppy.

She longed to have that with her child, to show the picture her mother had shown to her time upon time of her father doting over her, but she knew it would only infuriate him so she resorted to at least make an attempt, or make it look like she was honestly going to pursue adoption, but Beca had bigger plans. The least her dad knew, the better, but as long as he believed she was there he would be content.

"Did you manage to find out a way that the information could be faxed to me despite the disclosure policy?" Beca bluntly jumped right to the chase often.

"Your name is still in the files, and as the child you still have the rights to look. Your parents applied through us when they had first considered adoption, at least that's what the paperwork reads." She informs her, sliding the folder across the wooden table to Beca.

She knew her mother said that they couldn't really make it as young adults, barely able to pay the rent on time, her father only a lowly substitute still paying off his debts and her mother a stay at home wife, working only part time at the daycare down the street, most of her twenty hours being strictly volunteer.

"Why would their name still be in the files if they withdrew from my adoption?" Beca demands, clearly feeling as if she needed an answer for everything.

"This is for your sister Beca; She was placed for adoption when you were almost a year and a half."


	8. Sister, sister, and baby

Just weeks before when Beca had found out of her shocking 'sister' revelation, she had sought out to find just as much information that she could scrape together to find out how her sister was doing, and how to convince her dad that her keeping this baby could be her best choice, that she was not him and her mother, but how they managed to raise her despite their situations.

Beca sat on the couch, her legs crossed over each other as she stretched out, taking up most of the room over Chloe's lap, and lay back against a pillow with her laptop resting firmly on her thighs.

"Why wouldn't your dad tell you about the adoption?" Chloe wondered aloud as she picked at her cuticles.

"It's a pride thing; He doesn't want me to know that even though he raised me he couldn't afford to raise my sister. And he definitely doesn't want me hounding him about my adoption- which i'm not even gonna tell him that I know about."

Beca's finger searches over the mousepad, clicking on one ancestry sight after another, looking for anything on both sides of her family, any records of who her parents were pre-Beca and anything on her sister parents post-adoption, which legally she knew she probably couldn't search and find despite the fact that it had been an open adoption (Which puzzled her even more considering they haven't once seen her sister, not that she could remember anyways).

All of a sudden Beca scrunches her face through another Braxton Hicks, her hand instinctively reaching for her stomach to soothe over with a calm hand, trying to ease the cramp she had just felt tighten over her uterus. It wasn't until she lifted the blanket to grab a drink that she had noticed the bloodstain on her jeans, and upon inspection in the bathroom of her underwear that she had realized her water had broken, her placenta previa causing bleeding as expected, and she suddenly felt her stomach flip, her head disorientated and a wave of nausea as she came to the realization that the baby was coming.

"Chloe?" She called fearfully, shaking off her clothes and reaching for the bathrobe hanging over the drying rack that she had used earlier that day after taking a brief shower.

Beca's body quivered as she stood in the tub, the bleeding and water fluid continuing to flow down her legs as she rinsed the tub with the faucet on to keep from staining and slow the bleeding.

"Beca, what on earth…" She began before pausing, noticing the brunette holding up the bottom of her robe to her knees so that the bottom wouldn't get bloody or wet.

"I'm thinking now's a good time to leave for the hospital?" She informed her semi-sarcastically, waiting to see how she would react.

Chloe drove, Beca occupying the back seat because Aubrey had inappropriately called "shot-gun", demanding to be in the front seat, only claiming to have wanted Beca to have the room to lie down, and also not wanting blood or any bodily fluid on her car's seat, laying a beach towel from the trunk underneath her to prevent any damaging stains.

Traffic was heavy and the sun hot and bright through the car window, Beca groaning as she scrunched her face up through her first contraction since her water had broken just forty minutes before. Chloe glared in the rearview mirror, looking concerned for the younger brunette.

"How you doing?" Chloe asks with genuine concern, the answer obvious.

"It's just a hunch, but I'm thinking the baby's coming." Beca sarcastically grumbles as the contraction eases up.

Beca didn't know where it came from, but the intense urge to cry came flooding over her along with an overwhelmingly large array of emotions, Beca leaning back and throwing her hands over her face in distraught, unsure if it was the hormones or the fact that she was about to finally give birth to the child that was inevitably hers' to take care of, her second chance. She feels a hand reach back and realizes that it was not the ginger's but Aubrey's man hand, assuringly and firmly holding on, her thumb rubbing circles around it.

"You know, I know there's not much we know about your dad or even your mom, but I'm confident that you're not them. You're gonna be a great mom Beca." She smiles, her kind words taking Beca by surprise, her normally controlling and serious disposition temporarily set aside.

Beca releases a breath she hadn't even realized that she had been holding onto, feeling as if her worries were temporarily lifted from her shoulders and the only weight she felt was that of the baby, not the crushing weight of her dad's resentful words on her chest.

 **-XXX-**

They lay the baby bare across Beca's chest just twenty minutes after birth, crying loudly to Beca's relief as she was briskly dried off and weighed, her birth weight much lower than her mother's six pound, eleven ounce weight, the small size of the child no more of a surprise than the actual gender reveal surprise itself.

She had been born via c-section due to risks of excessive bleeding harmful not only to Beca but to the baby, and everything had been checked just fine, Beca anticipating the arrival of her baby for minutes now, watching the time ticking by slower than her own thoughts, and her heart felt as if it could explode with anxiety and joy simultaneously. When she was finally brought in, Beca's sorrowful face lit up with relief, reaching her greedy arms out to snatch up her child, ready with all the love and joy she could offer to her baby "boy".

"Hey Munchkin, mommy's pleased to finally meet you." She coos, glowing brightly with a smile so big she was barely recognizable as the tough girl with her Dj-ing facade.

"He's not a he anymore Beca," Chloe laughs with a gentle reminder.

Beca studies her child, taking in the downy coat of thin, dark, and slightly wavy dark hair, and her vibrant blue eyes that resembled her mother's, her lips curled just as her father's but the cute button nose Beca could only recognize to be just as her own mother's was.

"Penelope Jules," Beca responds defiantly as if Chloe would object in disgust, but she only nodded, confident that Beca knew whether or not using part of her mother's name would be a mistake or not.

Mother and baby slept for a short hour and a half before the nurse came in and showed Beca how to latch, feeding the baby proudly as she did what every mother dreamt to do but couldn't always do, and she felt thankful for in the moment that she had held the baby in her arms, the thought of her ever being adopted not a possibility in Beca's mind as she realized how tender her heart and her thick brick walls had become to motherhood.

Beca hated to do it but texted her dad, letting him know of the arrival of his granddaughter, offering him the empty gesture to come visit despite the two not having talked since Beca's little runaway, when she had tried to convince him that adoption wasn't what was best for her, and sneakily addressing the knowledge of her sister to him.

"Hey Becs," He softly knocked on the door, looking with wide eyes at his new grandchild, a look Beca had never seen plastered on his face.

Beca hesitantly hands Penelope to her dad, watching his face light up in a way she hadn't seen for years, not since the christmas before her mom left, her dad's face lit up as bright as the star that Beca held in her hands as she was lifted to the top of the tree.

"She's beautiful Beca, just like her mother." He doted over her.

"Dad, I know this isn't the time but about the adoption…" She began.

"Beca, I didn't think you'd understand how attached you could get, how much someone you knew for barely two hours could already steal your heart. But it wouldn't be right for me to keep this opportunity, this special bond from you, and seeing you with her reminds me of your mother, and the heartbreak in her eyes as we handed your sister away."

Her dad slowly and carefully handed back Penny, watching her stir in her light sleep, fearful that she would wake with the slightest rustle, and turned to grab an envelope from his bag, attached to a box wrapped in a teal trim, a present for the baby.

"Beca, your sister is a lot closer to you than you know. This envelope has everything on her from when she was adopted to what she could have become now."

Beca slides the envelope open, feeling how even the lightest stack of papers could make her arms feel so exhausted after labor but still feeling like nothing compared to her child.

"Dad, this doesn't make sense! The birth year is off! She's older than me?" Beca stares inquisitively at him.

"We weren't as young as you thought, just helpless; You're the one we kept Beca because up until that point, we couldn't even afford to take care of ourselves. You were born into an improvement."

Penelope shifts in her sleep, seeming to be nonetheless surprised by the news, and Beca had wished in that moment that she could be sleeping in her own mother's arms. Beca kisses her child calmly on her downy coat and proceeds to slid her hand into the envelope and pull out one final paper: A birth certificate with a photo of a mom, dad, and a small, goldilocks curls, strawberry blonde haired child smiling as she reached up and held her parents' hands, her eyes sparkling with a resembling, vibrant blue just as her sister's, and Beca recognized immediately that her sister was basically her and if she ever met her, she'd know immediately it was her. Or would she?

The cheek bones were perfect, the hair silky, the vibrating blues, she vowed by the hair that this child could be more like Chloe's sister, remembering that Chloe told her that her hair hadn't always been ginger, but strawberry blonde.

"Beca," Her father spoke after a long silence, "Her adoptive parents picked a name very dear to our family out of respect; And she's standing right next to you." He adds, nodding his head in Chloe's direction.

"Beca, Chloe was your adopted grandmother's name that we wished to carrying on with our own firstly adopted baby." He adds, unable to comprehend that through God's grace he had brought together his two girls in the strangest turn of events.

" _What's a coincidence?"_ He thought to himself.

* * *

 **Did you expect these turn of events? What did you think; Were you just as surprised as Beca when she found out her son was a she, or as surprised as Chloe when she unexpectedly realized that her sister was actually living in her home? This felt like the perfect turn of events to make it clear that this was NEVER intended to be a Bechloe, just a friendship, and now finding out that they were actually sisters. Thanks for reading!**


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